Swedish dental journal. Supplement
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The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the indications for and the results of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) surgery in patients with long-standing severe orofacial pain and dysfunction as well as in patients with fractures of the condylar neck. The patients with long-standing pain and dysfunction had had symptoms for a mean time of 4 years, had been treated conservatively for a mean time of 2.5 years, and had undergone numerous conservative treatment methods without improvement except for a minor increase in mouth opening capacity. The indications for surgery were strict; only 1% or less of all the patients referred to the departments with a diagnosis of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) were prescribed surgery, which was considered to be the only remaining option. ⋯ When cognitive-behavioural profiles were measured psychometrically in study VII, a dysfunctional profile was more common in patients with myofascial pain and pain with an obscure origin than in other patients diagnosed with TMD. The dysfunctional profile was also common in patients in whom treatment of a conservative or surgical nature had failed. Among TMD patients with disk displacement, adaptive copers were most common in successfully diskectomized patients and least common in patients about to undergo invasive treatment.